GSM vs WLL battle ends in India

The two-year long battle between Indian Cell Phone companies that use the GSM standards and those backing the Wireless Local Loop technology has ended, reports Dow Jones News Service. The battle has primarily between Indian cell operators and one company in particular, Reliance Telecom which has been pushing the WLL technology, and has for past three decades been coddled by the government. Think of Reliance as the Haliburton of India, except it has given enough money to each and every political party.

In related news, Rediff.com reports that “the government on Wednesday announced fresh concessions of over Rs 960 crore (Rs 9.60 billion) annually for the telecom industry with a focus on cellular operators to compensate them for high licence fee, a move coinciding with the decision of cellular players to withdraw the case against WLL mobile services in the Supreme Court.”

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The idea here is to boost the telephone penetration in India. These new developments should prove to be good news for the likes of UTStarcom and Qualcomm.